May 10, 2011

Restoration Hardware Baby & Child: Pint-Sized Industrial Chic

Can something be industrial and unbearably cute? Have you seen this playroom in the new Restoration Hardware Baby & Child catalog?

Photo Credit: Restoration Hardware Baby & Child Website

The catalog and website are packed with other ridiculously adorable nurseries, bedrooms and playrooms. For rich people. The prices are similar to Pottery Barn Kids, but the style is definitely more cutting edge.

I added up the cost of everything in the room, and the total is $5,824. That's only about $5,800 more than I spent when I spruced up my kids' playroom.

As soon as I saw this room, it reminded me of a customer at Clover Market who is creating an industrial-style bedroom for her young son. She bought our stack of industrial bins to hold his toys, and a canvas U.S. Mail bag, which was going to be made into a floor pillow. I would love to see the after photos of that room. (If you are reading my blog, please send them to me!)

I mean, I love everything in this catalog, but isn't it so much more fun to dig through a flea market to find the REAL thing, than to pay thousands of dollars for the reproductions? Or just make it yourself?

Take that play table, for example. Gina's husband recently covered their dining room table top with zinc. Just chop 12 inches off of the legs, and you have the perfect kiddie-sized table.

And no one should have to pay $229 for a pinboard. That's just crazy talk. For one that large, just get some cheap molding, a miter box and some cork panels that you cover in cute fabric. Voila! (Or, for a smaller board, follow my tutorial.)

I know that cubbies & metal bins can be tough to find, but if you scourenoughfleamarkets and yard sales, they are there. And I've certainly never paid $799 for cubbies that size. More like $35 at a flea market.

I'm preaching to the choir. So I will shut up now.

Have you seen the Restoration Hardware catalog or looked at the website? What do you think?

Comments

Great post Colleen. I have seen SO many of the originals at the Clover Market that we also see in the catalogs and cheaper to boot. Antique mirrors, industrial gears, antique picture ledges and shutters, and certainly the whole industrial chic aesthetic in spades. I hope some of the locals who read your blog will stop by our last spring show on 6/5 (note to Colleen's fans - freshvintage will be there selling!) or one of our fall dates, and that the others reading your post will continue to be inspired to hunt for the real thing at their nearby shows and sales. It's so worth it!!!

It is such a treat to find the treasures yourself, but thankfully, those who do pay $6K for those things don't flea and leave the good stuff for the rest of us to discover ;)

And, as luck should have it, I was able to find an large old, maple, children's school table with 8 original chairs in wonderful condition on craigslist for only $250. I felt like I was stealing it!

While the real vintage bins are tough to find, I did score a few grey, metal bins at Target for only $4 each. While they're not vintage, the price was a score, and the edges are a little safer for my little guys. $4 deal at Target gives me the same smile as scoring a one-of-a-kind on some days. Cheers!

Me? I think it's ironic that some child in a far-off Chinese sweatshop is probably laboring to knock-off the real industrial stuff so that it can be marked up a bajillion times and sold to unsuspecting Western over-consumers for their children's nursery. But that's just me.

Ironically, I have had the little chairs in my antique booth, and I could not "give" them away. For people who are searching for this look, attend school districts' auctions, usually at the end of the year. It will be at least $5,000 cheaper! Surpised that RH is still in business!